Aug 25, 2019 | National Women, News, Provincial Football
25 August 2019 – The start of the SAFA National Women’s League has been hailed as a great success after the league got off the ground this weekend.
History was made on Saturday (24 August 2019) when the first ball was kicked – but history was further re-written on Sunday, 25 August when the first ever football match of the league was beamed live on SABC 1 between Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies and Richmond Ladies.
The former won the match 7-0, but at the end of the day football was the winner with several commentators hailing SAFA for keeping good on their promise of starting the League.
There were two other matches earlier in the day when Sasol League National Champions TUT Ladies were trailing 2-0 against First Touch Academy but turned the tables on their opponent and won 4-2, while Golden Ladies were just too good for Thunderbirds, beating them 4-1.
The games took place at the Nike Football Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto on Saturday and Sunday.
President of the South African Football Association (SAFA) Dr Danny Jordaan, who was in attendance over the two days, says this is a good start to something exciting.
“We saw the gap between Sundowns and Richmond Ladies, and you can immediately see that some of these teams don’t have the required facilities, so over time we have to strengthen the playing staff, the management and technical staff of the team and infrastructure. In the meantime, we are centralizing the games so that each team has an equal chance to do well by playing on good surfaces,” said Dr Jordaan.
“So you can see it’s a process that we have to go through but I am particularly impressed with the start of the League, as we saw some quality football from some of the teams – this is an exciting way to start this initiative. And I am confident we will grow from strength to strength – we will get to where want to be, the important thing was to start. I would like to thank everyone who made the effort to ensure all goes well.”
Twenty-three goals have been recorded in just two days of action – with 18 of those coming on Match Day 2. Sundowns were the biggest winners (7-0), followed by Golden Ladies and TUT Ladies.
Match Day 1 saw only three goals in three matches – one match failed to produced a winner, the clash between Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies and University of the Western Cape.
WEEKEND RESULTS:
Saturday, 24 August
* Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies 0 – 0 University of the Western Cape
* Durban Ladies 0 – 1 Tsunami Queens
* University of Johannesburg 0 – 2 Coal City Wizards
Sunday, 25 August
* Golden Ladies 4 – 1 Thunderbirds
* TUT Ladies Soccer 4 – 2 First Touch Academy
* Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies 7 – 0 Richmond United
The next block of games will be played on the weekend of the 7thin the Western Cape at UWC.
University of Johannesburg will be looking to get their show back on the road when they face Bloemfontein Celtic – both haven’t won so far, but the Free State side has a point while the Students still have to accumulate. They will meet at 10h00.
Both TUT and Coal City Wizards won their opening matches and will want to continue from where they left off when they go toe to toe at 12h30, while the last clash of the day will see two of the biggest scorers, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (7-0) and Golden Ladies (4-1) face off.
On Sunday morning Thunderbirds will lock horns with Durban Ladies, and both sides are still licking their wounds after they lost their opening matches.
At 12h30 Richmond Ladies will be out for vengeance after suffering a 7-0 against Sundowns – they face First Touch Academy, with Tsunami Queens and University of the Western Cape wrapping up the weekend with a 15h30 clash.
FIXTURES:
Saturday, 7 August 2019
– University of Johannesburg vs Bloemfontein Celtic 10h00
– TUT vs Coal City Wizards 12h30
– Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies vs Golden Ladies 15h30
Sunday, 8 August 2019
– Thunderbirds Ladies vs Durban Ladies 10h00
– Richmond Ladies vs First Touch Academy 12h30
– Tsunami Queens vs University of Western Cape15h30
- There are nine Sasol League provincial champions in the SNWL
- They are joined by three invited teams – Bloemfontein Celtic, University of Johannesburg and Mamelodi Sundowns
- With Celtic winning the Sasol League in the Free State, second-placed Tsunami Queens ascended to the throne and qualified for the SNWL
- Gauteng has three teams, while the Free State has two and the rest have one each.
Here are the participating teams:
* TUT-PTA Gauteng (Sasol League National Champions)
* University of Western Cape Western Cape
* Richmond Ladies Northern Cape
* Golden Ladies North West
* Coal City Wizards Mpumalanga
* Durban Ladies KwaZulu Natal
* First Touch Academy Limpopo
* Thunderbirds Eastern Cape
* Bloemfontein Celtic Free State
– Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Gauteng
– University of Johannesburg Gauteng
– Tsunami Queens Free State
SOURCED FROM THE SAFA WEBSITE.
